Tennessee Titans: 30 greatest players in franchise history

• 2x AFL Champion w/Oilers (1960-61)
• 3x First-Team All-AFL (1963, 1965, 1967)
• AFL All-Time Second-Team
• 6x AFL All-Star (1962-67)
• 4x Second-Team All-AFL (1961-62, 1964, 1966)

Bob Talamini spent his entire professional career playing in the AFL after a strong college career in the SEC for the Kentucky Wildcats. He would be a second-round selection by the Oilers in the inaugural 1960 AFL Draft. Talamini spent his first eight AFL seasons starring on the offensive line for Houston.

Right away, Talamini would be part of a championship team in Houston, as the Oilers won the first two AFL Championships in 1960 and 1961. He would be named to the All-AFL Second-Team in that 1961 AFL season. That would be his first of four All-AFL Second-Team designations in his football career.

Beginning in 1962, Talamini would rattle off six-straight AFL All-Star Game nods as one of the best interior offensive lineman in the league. He ended up making three All-AFL First-Team squads in a five-year span from 1963 to 1967, coinciding with odd-numbered years.

1967 would prove to be Talamini’s last year in Houston, as he would go on to spend his last professional season playing for the 1968 New York Jets. This is the same Jets team that ended up stunning the then-Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. He would retire from playing ball after that monumental championship victory over the Colts for Gang Green.

Overall, Talamini would be a seven-time All-AFL player, a six-time AFL All-Star and a three-time AFL Champion, split between the Oilers and Jets. Though not a Pro Football Hall of Fame player, Talamini was named to the AFL All-Time Second Team.

Though left guard is an unglamorous position, Talamini was instrumental in the Oilers’ early success in the AFL. Quarterback George Blanda and running back Billy Cannon can thank their great AFL careers due in large part to a strong player like Talamini blocking up in front of them.